Fans and The Passion of LeBron James

June 23, 2011|By Ta-Nehisi Coates

On a recent episode of the NPR show "Fresh Air," documentarian Liz Garbus discussed her new work, "Bobby Fischer Against the World." At one point, the interview turned to a fateful call from Henry Kissinger in which the former secretary of state insisted that Fischer play Boris Spassky because it was a matter of "national security." The elevation of a chess match to statecraft immediately made me think of that great drama of our time: The Passion of LeBron James.

Ever since James made the rather idiotic choice to leave Cleveland via "The Decision," he has transformed himself from the savior of basketball into all that people perceive is wrong for the sport. Critics measure James against Michael Jordan, who toughed out many sad and disappointing years before bringing a championship to Chicago. James' defenders argue that he, like any other employee, should have the right to take his labor where he sees fit. Both sides have a point. In point of fact, James spent seven years in Cleveland; Jordan didn't win his first championship until his seventh season with the Bulls. But while all adults have the right to dump their beaus, dumping them on the stadium Jumbotron is generally bad form.

But logic and reasoning largely miss the point here. Is there ever any true logic or reasoning to fandom?

Forgive me for migrating over to football, but I think the point will hold true. I became a Dallas Cowboys fan because I was 5 and they had pretty uniforms. I stayed a Cowboys fan because the Colts left my hometown of Baltimore in 1984. Everyone I knew went over to the Redskins. I wanted to be a contrarian. That's what happened, but is it sensible? Do I really have a good reason for hating the Redskins more than, say, the Giants or Eagles? I hated the 49ers for "The Catch," but were they were responsible for the Cowboys' woeful performance in the '80s? Was team owner Robert Irsay categorically wrong to pull the Colts out of Baltimore?

Sports narratives strike me as a kind of modern mythology. We see the players as the gladiators of our cities, as champions for our small nations, and thus, emblematic of something about us. But very little of this is literally true. I don't know that the Saints winning the Super Bowl a couple of years ago helped New Orleans in any demonstrable way. But some people there feel that it did.

More than that, the mythology that fans invest in teams and players is not strictly of their own making. Owners and players peddle it to them and encourage them in their tribalism. It's not clear to me that the Pittsburgh Steelers are any more "working class" than the Miami Dolphins, but announcers and players insist on the point. It may not be literally true, but it works on the level of myth and narrative.

From that angle, it's easy to see how "The Decision," the subsequent dance party in Miami and the mocking of Dirk Nowitzki would all fit into a narrative of James' Miami Heat as the Evil Empire. James' dismissive post-defeat press conference proved he either understands this too well or not at all:

"All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point."

James should hope not. The whole point of sports is an escape from "the real world," and he profits from the escapism. I suspect that had the Heat defeated the Mavericks, James would not have lectured fans.

I don't think there are any objectively "real" reasons for hating James. But I'm not sure there are any objectively "true" reasons for rooting for any team. Fanaticism is an irrational business rooted in the story. And on that measure, it's hard not to feel some (perhaps illogical) warm feelings for Cleveland fans, who on Thursday night begin anew with two of the first four picks in this year's draft.